In this beautiful book, Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet Laureate Robert Hass walks us through Walt Whitman's central poem "Song of Myself," illuminating Whitman's fascination with the American language as it was emerging in his time, and revealing the significance of the words Whitman chose—their inflections, subtler meanings, and the native usages we wouldn't otherwise know. Hass first offers an introduction to the poem and then, with Paul Ebenkamp, a rich annotation of "Song of Myself." The second part of the book includes Hass's selection of poems spanning Whitman's career, giving us a fresh look at Whitman's work.

"[The author's] final intention is not merely to judge but to give a picture of the writer's mind.... Mr. Hass believes that poetry is what defines the self, and it is his ability to describe that process that is the heart of this book's pleasure." —NYTBR